Turn a crisis into gold, self-isolation to inner peace. How to meditate and why mindfulness can be your spiritual guidance.

Turn a crisis into gold, self-isolation to inner peace. How to meditate and why mindfulness can be your spiritual guidance.

In every crisis, there is always an opportunity, even in the case of The COVID-19 outbreak which has infected more than 250,000 people and taken at least tens of thousands of lives so far. Among several measures issued by governments worldwide to stop the spread of the virus, the best one is working from home as the best form of social distancing.

Not only is it a great opportunity to minimize contact with people physically, but also a perfect time to minimize contact with social media. Instead of hunching over your smartphone and feeling hopeless and paranoid with the inundation of news about the outbreak, we could turn away from it and focus on ourselves and our life.

You can declutter your home, learn a new thing seriously, start a new routine, or come up with a new project. But in time of crisis, there’s nothing more important than bracing yourself mentally for this situation. The importance of meditation cannot be emphasized enough particularly when the world is in chaos.

There are two types of meditation: Anapanasati (concentration) and Vipassana (mindfulness) meditation.

How to begin, learn from Vipassana Meditation Master Acharavadee Wongsakon.

Concentration is when the mind focuses on one static emotion. In other words, we pay full attention to a given thing in order for the mind. It is very hard to succeed in anything when we have a vulnerable and unstable mind. Such a state of mind makes us easily give up on any obstacles and lack inner peace.

The Benefits of Meditation Practice

The practice of concentration will help our mind to be stronger and more stable. Also, its result can also help us to be smarter and have a sharper memory.

Concentration practice exists not only in Buddhism, but also in other religions. Each religion has its own concentration technique, but the concentration technique of the Buddha is mindfulness on breathing called “Anapanasati Meditation”. In this technique, we focus our attention on our own breathing by fixing the mind to the nostrils without chanting any Mantras. The breath will become a tool for creating the peace of mind, not for analyzing and following any thoughts floating up during the meditation. We simply train our mind to remain on one static point like the breath. It seems difficult to practice at the beginning but in the end it gives a lot of benefits.

Throughout the history, social distancing and staying home have proven to save millions of lives during pandemics. So why don’t you turn the crisis into an opportunity to save your soul too? The mental clarity and focus cultivated through meditation will help you see through all hurdles in life even in a life-and-death situation like what we’re facing now.